1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical apparatus and, more particularly, to a display device for receiving and displaying a value from an electrical apparatus. The invention also relates to an electrical apparatus including a display device.
2. Background Information
Displaying operating parameters (e.g., without limitation, voltage; electrical current; frequency) provides one way for a user to ensure that an electrical apparatus is operating properly. Accordingly, electrical apparatus including electrical switching apparatus, such as circuit switching devices and circuit interrupters (e.g., without limitation, circuit breakers, contactors, motor starters, motor controllers and other load controllers), often include a connector for outputting a value. The value outputted on the connector is typically indicative of one or more operating parameters. Circuit breakers, such as the low voltage circuit breaker 2, shown in FIG. 1, exemplify one type of electrical apparatus that may include such a connector 4.
Circuit breakers are used to protect electrical circuitry from damage due to an over current condition, such as an overload condition or a relatively high level short circuit or fault condition. As shown in FIG. 1, the low voltage circuit breaker 2, for example, includes a housing 6 enclosing at least one pair of separable contacts (not shown) which are operated either manually, by way of an operating handle 8 disposed on the outside of the housing 6, or automatically by way of a trip unit 10 in response to an over current condition. In this example, the circuit breaker trip unit 10 is a modular component that can be interchanged (as best shown in FIG. 2), in order to change the trip characteristics of the circuit breaker 2. As shown, the connector 4, in this case a trip unit testing port, may be located on the trip unit 10. The connector 4 outputs the value, such as, for example, the amount of load current flowing through the circuit breaker 2, to a display device, such as, for example, an ammeter 12 (FIG. 2), in order to display the value on a display 20 thereon.
However, electrical apparatus, including circuit breakers, are often mounted or disposed in a wide variety of orientations with the position of the display device display being dictated by such orientation and the corresponding orientation of the connector on the electrical apparatus. This has made it difficult to read the value displayed on the display when the electrical apparatus is disposed in any orientation other than a vertical one. For example, the circuit breaker discussed above could be mounted sideways in an inverted orientation, thereby requiring the ammeter to be oriented in a corresponding sideways or inverted orientation. This would result in the electrical current value being displayed in an improper orientation making it difficult to be accurately read or interpreted by a user.